Honestly, I feel like DD's strongest aspect was their social media game. Bobby, Robert, Danny, and Anthony carried this brand far more than any of their team members. I feel like they made poor business decisions in handing over fat checks to Ricky and Kona, and they lost their social media savvy. I hate to say it, but I think DD blew it with the influx of COVID money.
That is exactly it. DD tried to go for expensive player talent, and lost the grassroots vibe that a lot of us loved about them. I throw mostly latitude now, and only pick DD when I can't get the Lat64 disc I need.
You're right. Thats all they had. They had a few good players, the media team did all the proper hype, but... just not well ran company. Bobby about died over how hard he worked at his job.
I liked their plastic when I started playing, and I enjoyed the content they were putting out, so I was bagging some DD for a while. But those molds have all worked their way out of my bag at this point. The decline feels like it's years in the making though. AJ was such a promising talent and he had to stop playing. Oakley left. Paige left (both of them). And on the media side, they lost Robert and then Bobby. I can't really blame Danny for being ready to move on at all.
DD's marketing died with Bobby. I got a pretty clear picture from an outside perspective what goes on in there with how some things seemed to unfold. DD just is a poorly run company and always has been.
There is false information about Silva Saarinen. She played for Exel Discs last season. What got me into throwing and buying Trilogy and DD's plastic, was the DD's media team back in 2016-2019. They had great content and I liked Bobby, Eric, Robert and Anthony. They had also great content with their team players which represented pro's signature discs. DD's biggest mistake was to let go of their media team, I wonder what happened inside the company when Bobby and Robert left.
Personally, I love their plastic. I've been out of the sport the last few years, and it was quite a shock getting back into it seeing how far DDs reputation has fallen. My bag is still 75% DD, just because I genuinely do love those discs.
As somebody who is fairly new to DG, this summer was spent purchasing a lot of disc… The ole just buy it to try it… because otherwise I just won’t know if I like it or not. I’ve acquired something like 60 new disc in the last 2 months alone. A large part of that purchasing is online based and impulse in nature because I just don’t want to miss a good deal when I see one… That being said, how I go about deciding on disc in person has a lot to do with how the mold feels in my hand, and the feel (grip, soft or firmness, slick or tackiness) is in hand. Dynamic was a company I wanted to like, but after trying a handful, I just don’t like them. I have an eMac truth in Lucid that I like, and a deputy in prime that’s okay, but other than that I’m just not all that keen on the brand.
I don't get the DD hate. The plastics are really good and the molds are solid. Probably the best putter plastics in the game AND the most options for a putter plastic. Been loving my Fuzion Burst Trespasses for a while now, haven't been really disappointed with any of their molds that I've tried.
I started with DD and I am still throwing them today. I also throw MVP (BS - Before Simon), Discraft or whatever the hell flies great for me. I love the Supreme and Fuzion plastic. Feels great, super tough and flies beautiful. I put with Wardens (did not like Judges) and they are great for upshots as well. My only ace came from a Warden. I do not see me giving up on throwing them. Have fun people. Who gives a crap what you throw.
There's also a culture aspect to DD that wasn't mentioned. The management like to drink and they frown on anyone who likes to smoke weed. I don't partake in either, but it's 2024, weed isn't a big deal anymore...
When we were at Emporia for Worlds a couple of years ago, my wife and I did a tour of their facilities. Everyone there was super nice and friendly. I walked away with a very positive view of DD from that experience.
I just bought 2 DD. Mostly because they were buy one get one free. I generally don't even look at them. I look at innova mvp and discraft. Their marketing isn't really great.
Yeah I can't say that DD or Lone Star will make a comeback but I think Prodigy still has potential especially with them still retaining KJ and Isaac/Ezra
I think the downfall actually started when Bobby "Cool Daddy" Slick Breeze left DD. He was great for their social media and marketing. Bobby hosted the "Disc Golf Answer Man Podcast," which I loved. DD also used to put out a ton of content, like instructional videos and practice rounds with guys like A.J. Risley. After Bobby left, the TH-cam content took a big hit. DD started up their own podcast after Bobby left, but eventually stopped making it. I still like their plastic, but I miss the great content they used to produce.
If you believe Reddit...a lot of people don't like DD just because the names of their discs have to do with police, law, and order. I'd say that's crazy but it's something.
Aren't the faster discs in that lineup the outlaws though? Seems like a compliment. The Judge is slow and fat and the Felon sleek and nimble. Or something.
With the growth of MVP and addition of Clash, Thought Space + more it should be expected less market for others, unless the overall sales was still growing. This is a bad time to get stale.
I love DD (well, trilogy as a whole) and have hosted 3 trilogy challenges in the last few years. They have always seemed to be a really great company who hires great people. Their plastic is also some of the best quality I've thrown. Lucid Orbit was also a game changer (I don't think there is another company who has been able to expand the rise of orbit to clear discs). Therefore, the loss of almost all their pros is a hard blow. I think signing Kona and then being bought out and their president leaving all point to a decline of the company. It really saddens me. I think all the hate that DD gets is totally unwarranted.
Yes, I agree with you that most of the hate is unfounded/unwarranted. Only big thing I see from the modern Dynamic Disc company (not old Destiny Discs later Dynamic Disc) is fully screwing over a player for having a kid and dropping them entirely is just wrong even for a USA company in 2020's. Sure, I say drop all pay for a year and possibly more if they are not touring in this period possibly retired but tell said player there is a slot should you want to come back to team, not just drop player entirely during players negotiations is a bad move even companies are not allowed to do a full drop of a person for having a kid.
I do not think people hate DD. Discgolf is showing up alot in my youtube, but I do not see much from DD. I do not even se much from Discraft. The last video from Paul was like 6 months ago. Simon posts a few videos per month, Casey from Discmania posts video almost every week, Latitude 64 has Johnatan,... Then there are creaters that are not tight with any company so they do not count much. But if some company have a entertainer like Simon or Casey or Johnatan who is showing love for what they are throwing with... They are gonna sell much better then DD. We know Ricky throws DD, but I do not even know if he likes it, or if he does not care. He might be great player, but he never entertain people...
They certainly got quite unlucky with both Ricky and Kona's illnesses right after signing, but yeah that's not the whole problem. Ricky is definitely fun to watch on the course, but neither one of them are fun to watch in a non-tournament setting and I think that's because neither of them seem very relatable or humble, to me at least. Maybe it's just a lack of skill in front of the camera in a casual setting where they can't relax, idk. And DD as a company doesn't seem to do well with hype around their discs outside of putting Ricky's name on them. It's just boring all around. And it's all L64 plastic anyway and Latitude has both a better image and outside the Evader (maybe) better molds, and that doesn't even mention development of new molds. My guess is they'll go the way of Gateway and Legacy soon where HoD will just dissolve them down to a handful of molds with little to no pro sponsorships.
Trilogy was my favorite feeling plastic when I got into disc golf and started trying stuff out. The Pre-Mac Truth was my go to disc for a long time. My other mids were a Warrant and a Verdict. I had Wardens for putting and throwing. I still put with DD putters. I've switched to the EMAC Judge. I still bag the Warrant. The Kona Escape found its way into my way about a year ago. It's my favorite disc. I also bag a Supreme Escape, and a Getaway. That said, it's been sad to see their media team leave. They used to a big team of fun players and great media.
How they treated the lady having the baby is bad news bears… I do bag a felon and several trespasses but I’m certainly not married to them. There are so many good discs out there if I wanted to switch I could find replacements.
Being pregnant had nothing to do with their decision. She said she will play only 10 tournaments so she was going to get paid for playing 10 tournaments. If DD sponsored MPO player wants to sign a new contract and says that he will play next year only 10 tournaments, he would not get paid for full tour either. So why should FPO player get paid for full tour if MPO would not get paid for full tour? That is equality. it would have been easy to make a deal that she gets paid less this season and more next season if she plays more tournaments. If you make a contract at work that you work 4 days a week and not 5, you will get paid less also.
Agreed… But, if she is telling the truth, you would think they would at least make the 10 tournaments worth actually competing. Make the juice worth the squeeze. Optics wise other potential dd fpo players will see this and I would think it would leave a bad taste in their mouth. Not a good look for dd for future deals… possibly. But as a company they have every right to do what they did. Business is business. Your only worth what someone is willing to pay. But with her wanting to be loyal and remain with dd, and dd’s, if you believe her, lack of sympathy, it’s bad optics. I would suppose that if they would have given her more support, they would have done better as a company, attracted more players, sold more discs, and POSSIBLY…. Would have had a better year this year imo.
Everyone I actually cares about is gone including Danny. I wasn't an all-in Trilogy guy, but at this point there are 0 trilogy molds in the bag and maybe 3-5 HoD in there at any time. They messed up somewhere along the way, and in the end I think it was HoD that started all this misery for them. Investment companies will "save" themselves on expenses into the "poor house" before selling the shell company away later to someone else, yet somehow still at a profit. Here's hoping they wake up and not ruin the recent acquisitions (Kasta and Discmania) ... but I don't have much hope for that occurring.
I could care less who the sponsored players are...at least in as much as it affects whether or not I buy or throw a company's discs. Honestly, I pay so little attention that I don't really even know who's sponsored by who for the most part. Even big names like Ricky...when you talked about him, quite frankly my reaction was "huh, yeah I guess I knew he was a DD player", but I rarely even think about it. I do care about how players are treated by their sponsor, and when I do find out anything negative (such as Macie's situation) that does come into play if/when I buy discs from a company. Danny is great, and a real asset to the sport. If his leaving is due to "bad stuff" coming from the company, that would definitely affect my purchasing decisions. The discs/plastics themselves? Well that is by far the biggest factor though. And I gotta admit........... --- My favourite putter is the Emac Judge in Classic Blend. I'd hate to not have it in my bag. --- I also bag, and really like, the Escape....both in Supreme plastic, and Lucid Air if I want something lightweight. I'm someone who pretty much bags/throws only 4 or 5 molds 90% of the time, sometimes less. At most, I'll have 7 or 8. So, if at least 1 or 2 of those are DD's, that's a significant percentage of my main discs (as much as 50%) But it really has nothing to do with them being "from Dynamic Discs". I bag/throw them because they work for me, they reliably fly like I expect them to, and I like the plastic. They just happen to be made by that particular company. For the record, the other companies that make my main discs are Trash Panda, Discraft, Kastaplast, and Innova. Of them, Trash Panda is the only one I specifically like to support for who they are and what they do....the others are just companies that happen to make discs I like.
People follow the trends. And most everything that is trendy is new, change, and drama. With Simon leaving for MVP last year, and Discraft signing AB and others, people are going to buy those discs. There is nothing wrong with their discs. People care way too much about what they bag to impress other people.
This. I'm pushing 40 and mostly throw Innova because I like their discs the most. It's certainly not cool or trendy these days but I honestly couldn't care less
Ricky is not marketable. What has he done with his foundation? The only clinic he has done is the one in Vegas last year. Macie got screwed. that in and of itself shows how they value people. They offered their top player less money and then said screw you when she told them she was pregnant. They gave Kona the same amount as Kristen for what? because she is friends with EMac? the company is a joke. They don't do any marketing and the tiny little bit they do is abysmal. It is really sad.
I am a trilogy player and for me, it just feels like there is other options for every slot that DD has. Atleast for my level of play, where Glide helps me.
DD are great discs. This video is just click-bait. Danny got a new job. He didn't say he left because anything is wrong with the company. MVP is the new popular thing but I think DD will be just fine
I’m someone who was a huge DD fan, I just liked how the team didn’t have the highest rated players on it but they seemed to be close and almost like a family. But I have really soured on them these past couple years. Pretty much starting with the Ricky and Kona signing. I thought the Val and Mason Ford were actually going to be the better signings for them that season, but then when they left after a single season it started raising red flags to me. I have found replacements for almost all of the DD in my bag. I just have my two favorites left, but after the drama with Macie, I am looking for replacements for them as well.
I remember when DD was just Rusco's eBay name. DD became the largest retailer of discs in the early 2010s. Back then it seemed like every pro was wearing their logo. Soon, they partnered with Latitude and began "manufacturing" their own discs. Being somewhat local to them, I was always a bit disappointed that DD didn't set up their own manufacturing facility and make discs in the USA. I also thought the names of the discs were dumb, lol. Just never got into them because I already preferred Innova and Discraft over L64 and DD's discs were just L64 discs as far as I was concerned. That said, I will always root for DD to do well. The folks who run and work at the DD stores here in KC are simply top notch, and deserve nothing but the best. Nice job on this video!
I worked a bunch of tournaments for DD for several years and got to know Jeremy, Bobby, Robby, Eric and others while watching them help grow the sport alot. Almost everyone that I met in the Emporia disc golf scene with and around DD were and are great people. I know they miss alot of the folks that have left. I miss seeing alot of them too. I still throw only trilogy plastic because I like, and Dynamic Discs people and Company have been great to me and our community here. I know not everyone likes seeing our courses on the pro tour, but The staff, community, and the local disc golfers here all worked very hard to grow the DD brand and put a small KS town on the map for the world to see and enjoy. I hope House of Discs continues to support alot of the original visions and style that Dynamic has had over my years around them. Time will tell. But they have earned my respect and hopefully they can find some more talented people to help carry the load that alot of the OGs that have moved on once did. Companies change and people leave for new opportunities or many other reasons. Not always negative ones.
I like DD, they have some of my first 'favorite' discs & will always be a bit nostalgic for that. I think they have some very quality molds & are just in a bit of a slump right now in the public eye. I think they need to revisit the slammer & make it more like the original slammer, or more like a pig. I can't help but feel the way they designed the slammer is very polarizing & you definitely don't see ricky throwing it like he did with his pigs. Even if they don't release anything new, there will always be some tried and true Dynamic molds that will keep people coming back, but I feel like something new may help to inject some cash into the company. If it's a re-release of a disc like the slammer that they already have the molds for, the upfront cost would be low and may help to generate hype from people that have been missing it.
I think you touched on every point well. When I started playing in 2018 I was 100% trilogy with most being DD. but once Covid hit and production of certain things became nonexistent I slowly replaced every trilogy mold in my bag with something else. I still love my lucid slammer but there are a few discs that do the same thing for 1/3 the price. Now they’re doing all these plastic combos and it’s so hard to keep up with.
The slammer will get you out of trouble and make you better. I love my Slammers. Evaders are good too. Other than that, you're right. Lol Raiders and Felons are too overstable for me but Ricky makes the damn things flip over somehow😂
5+ years I have thrown trilogy, primarily DD. Prices go up, shipping times slow all the while promoting an overbuilt and over advertised new warehouse. Clash discs have some amazing plastic, time for me to move along.
I’ve thrown trilogy my whole disc golf “career” and I’ve found that they’re distance drivers are just not good I’ve also found my bag is more west side and latitude.
Nobody gives a shit about Macie Veladiez and all that, disc golf companies can’t pay people who aren’t playing. On top of that, if you’re not a top 3 female player then you aren’t making your company any money. Giving Kona that big deal probably hurt them pretty bad!
I use Judge putters and have bought a ton of them, but don’t use anything else they put out. I’m also not the biggest fan of Ricky Wysocki… so I don’t think I would by anything but the Judge. I love discraft because of their team and it seems they do a lot for the the sport. With that being said, I mostly there’re latitude discs.
Owning a busy wholesale business and retail store, I can tell you that a player's name on a disc does not sell it. Awesome effects, superb quality, wicked stamps, wild colours, and Halo/Orbit features are what people are looking for. You know what else sells discs? Me. Roughly 75% of purchases made in my store are made on my recommendation. And I guarantee the discs I recommend will do what I say they will, or I will exchange it for free. So... I wouldn't be too concerned about DD: they will continue to make and sell plenty of discs - mostly because they have some really good moulds, and the discs are all made by Lat64 - the second best moulder in the industry, after MVP.
I bag only trilogy. That's because when I started playing, they had the best online presence between Danny's instructional vids, and the "will this disc work for you" series. They had the squad program which was pretty awesome too. Then their online presence kind of just disappeared. I haven't bought any new plastic recently, but if I were shopping I'd probably look elsewhere.
When I graduated from my Innova starter pack, I used a Maverick, Truth, Escape and Trespass along with Judge putters. Probably due to influence from watching Danny's training videos and they were inexpensive. I'm still using a Lucid Escape and the Judge putters but lately substituting a C-line CD1 and Link putters. Every now and then the Trespass sneaks back into the bag. My bag in now is mostly Discraft (Zone,Buzzz,Stalker), Innova (TL3,Beast,Wraith,Destroyer), Discmania (Link, Tactic, FD, Essence, CD1,DD1)and MVP (Envy,Hex,Crave,Wave).
The only DD I regular use are my supreme judges. Supreme is the only decent plastic they make and only is available in a few molds. So other companies with similar plastic to supreme i.e. kastaplast k1, discmania s line, clash double steady, and latitude grand royal are my go to for great molds. Also could care less who is sponsored with the exception that sometimes signature series discs have good stamps
What it comes down to is to beat Innova, L64, or MVP you have to do something better than them. DD doesn’t offer anything unique and their brand strategy seems pretty lazy to me. The logos are awful and the law&order theme doesn’t work for me. Maybe their fans enjoy it? Supreme plastic is just rebranded Royal Grand plastic and they thought they could just sign Ricky and let him carry the brand. Having great players is to augment the brand not to carry it.
No one was buying Kona’s discs because they connected with her. It was simply because half the men that watch disc golf have never had a girlfriend and thought she was hot. Kristen is the same way. Don’t get it twisted, she is the goat of woman’s disc golf and her discs are far better for am players than most men’s pro players are, but her attractiveness to the disc golf market is quite literally her attractiveness.
I've been throwing only Trilogy for a few years now. To say they haven't innovated at all I think is a bit of a stretch. Along with Discraft, when it comes to plastic, they might be the most innovative on the market. In the last few years, the Supreme/Royal line has come out along with BioGold, Gold Ice, Orbit Ice, etc. and other plastics. MVP on the other hand, who seems to have taken a lot of the market, has not innovated much on the plastic side outside of their R2 or Fission Plastic. As for players, it seems like all the House of Discs brands are cutting players in favor of having one top player. Discmania might be the exception, but we also don't know what Kyle's contract is like. For DD, you also have to realize that they own part of Westside so in some sense that is an extension of their brand. It would be interesting to see how people perceive Westside alongside DD. It sucks to lose Clemons because he was a good ambassador for the brand. Where I will agree is that DD's player marketing has not kept up with the Discraft's and MVP's of the world, though both Discraft and MVP's player marketing has been driven in large part by the players themselves, not so much by the company. In the case of Discraft, the company does help by setting up personal websites for the players to help them sell product. DD has a dedicated Ricky page to buy all his stuff. Latitude has a Kristin page. I think what ultimately has happened to DD is that the player marketing has suffered, making it less desirable as a player to want to represent them. For Discraft and MVP, it seems like the companies are doing a good job of supporting the players' needs while allowing them to focus on playing and building their own brands. I think for DD a lot of that has been placed on the players. I also have heard a rumor that House of Discs kind of came in and players were told to put up and sell plastic or you weren't going to be back. That could be a factor, and it could make sense given that Gannon and Alden have strong presences on social media and seem to move plastic pretty well. It also seems that Latitude has become the European arm of Trilogy and with Niklas Antilla leaving DiscMania, maybe they don't want competition in that market from in house. That is just speculation on my part. When you look at the other top companies, they all have top players who have thriving TH-cam channels/Social Media. Now that Danny is gone (I think he truly wanted a different opportunity closer to family, I don't think he was forced out or anything like that and will probably be making more money) it will be interesting to see if DD places a higher value on players who can push their brand on social media and TH-cam because they haven't really ever had that. It has always been through the DD page, not the individual players' channels. It will be interesting to see. I don't think they will be bought out since they basically have in a way with House of Discs. It would be way harder too anyway since they have such strong ties to Latitude and Westside. What would need to happen is they would have to probably sell their share of Westside and then cut ties with House of Discs before that happened. That's the way I see it. I will probably keep throwing them, but things change so who knows, maybe I'll change my mind in the future. But that Royal/Supreme Plastic is just so good.
Response based on DD discs that I own and mostly bag through not all at the same time. I find this video to be very "suspect." I am responding because in my supreme "judge" ment, there is a lack of the real "proof" that DD is one the verge of collapse. How can DD get any "justice" in this forum. Pretty sure the "deputy" would arrest me for the "vandal"ism that may result from such an extreme "verdict." For whatever reason I mostly bag DD and Innova with a little bit of Latitude 64 thrown in support on Mr. Happy faced Fuse fame, Johnathan. Some of the discs I bought because I thought the name was cool or funny. Bought my friend a truth just so I could say you can't handle the truth when he shanks it. For similar reasons I bought him a Genius from Discmania so I can say nice shot genius when throws a particularly good or bad shot. Here's hoping DD can turn things around soon. I'd hate to see them go out with their final legally themed disc being named the Bankruptcy. That would be criminal and Emporia deserves better than that. P.S. all the best to Ricky and Kona and please do something nice for Macy. A shame they lost so many good FPO players including Holynn Hanley, Valerie Mandujano. and Page Shue, I think all to Discraft in recent years.
I'm the same way, I haven't bought many DD discs other than some Ricky ones. Speaking of innovative, shoutout to "ProtoFlyte Discs" in OKC, who is going to be releasing a prototype, CNC cut disc instead of injected. Their idea is it will be more consistent flights from disc to disc. Who knows if it will be good or not, but I preordered one in support for their innovative thinking.
Just a rough patch, they'll recover, but I'll be honest, I've been removing more of my DD discs, and adding in more of the Westside and Latitude Molds. I do love my Wardens. DD just feels like a different company now, without the Bjerkas family, Rusco, Bobby, Robert, and now Danny all the players that have left, it's just weird. My entire bag is still Trilogy and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but it still feels weird what's going on over there now.
I’ve enjoyed Trilogy discs but I avoid DD. I’m not a fan of the whole cops and robbers naming scheme. Though I do love the Sockibomb Slammer. That being said it’s sad to see what looks like the slow death of a once respected disc golf company
This video made me feel really nostagic. In 2018, we went down for GBO, it was a trip I'll never forget. Might have been peak DD and Emporia. It's hard not to blame House of Discs and Rusco for the direction the company seems to be going. I'll still throw DD and cheer for Ricky, but slowly my bag is heading toward Lat and Kasta...I know they're also HoD. Royal and K1 are fantastic and hopefully they don't change the blends.
True. Especially with many more places entering the pie. I'm guessing all the brands that were there for a while have shown a decline...yet doesn't mean they're still not profitable.
House Of Disc bought DD, i saw Discmania Offered For Payout at DD Straddle. I have a feeling they are going to focus on the Euro market which is growing big time and with more tour dates it cant be long before the Euro Tour will outgrow the US. Talent is growing fast overseas along with the Euro courses being top notch, spectator friendly and beautiful.
I remember when everybody was writing Discraft's obituary, then boom, they were back on the radar screen in a big way. Every company has it's ups and downs. Bad luck about Kona, good choice with Ricky. They'll survive.
I like the Deputy putter for putting and approaches. There's only one other putter that feels exactly like the Deputy in my hand, and that is the ______________. Tell me which disc you think I'm talking about.
Thanks Aardvark, yes the Fierce is one of two answers I will accept. I have just one, but it's an original prototype with burst colors exactly like one of Paige's favorite putters. I think the Fierce is a great throwing putter at 250-feet and in. I can't throw it farther than that anyway.
The only DD disc I've ever bagged is a Justice. I haven't tried many of their discs because I've had success with many discs from Innova, Discraft, MVP, Latitude, Discmania, etc. and they've become staples in my bag. I absolutely LOVE the Justice though. Unfortunately, imo, the best run of Justices had Macie's name on them (Soft Justice, Fluid Lucid Justice) :/
Alright, I’ll l say it- people want quality plastic…that also looks good. Look at the effort that mvp puts into design/stamps and how that’s paid off. I don’t like the logo. My opinion, but marketing is real
I guess I just don't just get DD discs, somehow. Tried some, and they've always been a bit weird to me. Yeah I have some Ricky Slammers and fairway drivers, but they're relegated to the pile of "maybe my kids think that this is a cool colour". No hard dislike or anything, I just feel that some of the bucket lids from other manufacturers fit me better. Edit: many of which are Latitude so Trilogy as well.
It’s just the sport itself is growing. There is just more options. Consider how difficult it must be to stay relevant in a second hand sport. Innova stated relevant without promoting or doing any insane publicity stunt. And I’m not an innova fan. Just don’t be quick to assume there is an issue. I think dd is right where they want to be. Ricky is the man. Puts in the work. His disc sales are fine. Dd just made that deal. It’s going to be a different year in disc golf all together. Mark my words
Everything out of the trilogy factory is great. Consistent discs that are super durable. I have no reason to get caught up in pro drama as a casual player, I just like good discs so I will keep throwing DD
As a person who puts wardens, I have been a big fan of DD. I love their fuzion plastic.I think the house of disc is going to roll DD and Disc Mania together. They are both American brands with swedish plastic .
For me I don't buy any tour series discs because of the turnover on the teams. Do I have some favorite players, sure. I was a Ricky fan when he was on Latitude 64, Innova, and now Dynamic Discs. I also like Paul as well. I don't tend to buy discs because of who throws what honestly. I'm a Trilogy fan and have been for a long time now. Being that I live in KS and play many events, the players packs when I first started playing events in 2015/16 were heavily Trilogy. Now there is more variety. Before Paul signed on with Discraft you couldn't give those discs away here. After he signed all people wanted was Discraft. Innova got a big spike when Ricky was on the team but has tapered a bit as of late. Discraft and Innova are the Ford and GM of disc golf and will always be back and forth depending on the territory. DD is the Dodge in our state. Lonestar was hot for a minute here in KS, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon, and now you can't give it away. Prodigy comes and goes too. It just depends on the event honestly. I do agree that DD is getting stale and they've let some good players go in the last couple of years. Sometimes business make bad decisions and it takes time to recover from those decisions. Some never do. Hopefully with the new leadership at DD they can make a solid push back into the spotlight again. They really need to get a solid FPO player to try to bring attention to the ladies' side of disc golf. Remember how good the GBO once was? It was the biggest am event in the world at one point. The decision to separate the ams and the pros to 2 different events hurt the GBO. Will it recover? Who knows. Disc golf seems to be just like anything else, trends come and go. DD still makes good plastic but as the video says they really haven't came up with much new besides the Supreme and Royal plastic lines. Maybe they will invent the next swirl/halo/burst/shimmer disc in 2024 and sales will take off. One can only speculate.
A sore spot for me! I hate their customer service, and management. I bought a blue veteran, and they sent me a white base, with no wheel. When I called to get the right one, they offered me nothing for messing up my 400 plus dollar purchase. It sucks because I absolutely love the Supreme escape, to me it is irreplaceable.
DD molds are mostly great. So sorry to hear they are not supporting their players. I'm a latitude 64 guy but I throw an evader. I putt with wardens. Bummer about Clemons and Kona.
I took a moment to look at the lineup if Dynamic and outside the Deputy and Judge, I do not use any of their discs. I bought a few starter packs for people - thats about it, so I can't comment on their plastic. However, I do think their Disc Golf Bags are great and have the Trooper and Commander. To be fair, I do not find Ricky very appealing, but loved Kona (hope she's doing well), and feel that DD does not market itself well, is lacking innovation, and without Danny - will be lacking a social presence. In today's world, it seems that content creation drives disc golf sales and DD seems behind the game of Simon, Gannon & Co., Latitude (Jonathan), even Casey White at Discmania. Losing Val, Mason, Macie and Danny are huge hits... wish them luck but do not disagree with the video that trouble could be ahead.
I've thrown Trilogy plastic since 2019. I remember when they retired a dozen or so molds and there was mostly negative feedback from that. They made the Agent, and the slammer, and the Emac Judge and other discs that were just not needed. They lost Valarie who was so fun to watch and had a good personality. I just think they do whatever they want, and dont care what their fans think. They arent talking to us as players and making things better for us, they just do what they want and expect we will be okay with it. I still like their plastic, I will still throw Harps, and Escapes, and Truths, but if they keep this up, they wont have any fans cheering them on.
DD has my favorite disc of all time the Felon in Lucid plastic. Also the Judge Prime burst along with the most reliable mid for me the emac truth these 3 alone have improved my game so much
I imagine 2024 will be their strongest year yet. Ricky out there killing it, Latitude cranking out beautiful plastics like crazy. I would lever throw dynamic, but It’s obvious they are on top of their game currently.
I started on DD discs and most of my bag was DD for the first few months (I'm 1.5 years in at this point) and I'm just realizing now that they all got pushed out by other manufacturers.
Honestly, I feel like DD's strongest aspect was their social media game. Bobby, Robert, Danny, and Anthony carried this brand far more than any of their team members. I feel like they made poor business decisions in handing over fat checks to Ricky and Kona, and they lost their social media savvy. I hate to say it, but I think DD blew it with the influx of COVID money.
Thanks for the kind words!
That is exactly it. DD tried to go for expensive player talent, and lost the grassroots vibe that a lot of us loved about them. I throw mostly latitude now, and only pick DD when I can't get the Lat64 disc I need.
You're right. Thats all they had. They had a few good players, the media team did all the proper hype, but... just not well ran company.
Bobby about died over how hard he worked at his job.
Emporia DD store is where I picked up 2 of my favorite MVP discs.
I liked their plastic when I started playing, and I enjoyed the content they were putting out, so I was bagging some DD for a while. But those molds have all worked their way out of my bag at this point. The decline feels like it's years in the making though. AJ was such a promising talent and he had to stop playing. Oakley left. Paige left (both of them). And on the media side, they lost Robert and then Bobby. I can't really blame Danny for being ready to move on at all.
DD's marketing died with Bobby.
I got a pretty clear picture from an outside perspective what goes on in there with how some things seemed to unfold.
DD just is a poorly run company and always has been.
There is false information about Silva Saarinen. She played for Exel Discs last season.
What got me into throwing and buying Trilogy and DD's plastic, was the DD's media team back in 2016-2019. They had great content and I liked Bobby, Eric, Robert and Anthony. They had also great content with their team players which represented pro's signature discs. DD's biggest mistake was to let go of their media team, I wonder what happened inside the company when Bobby and Robert left.
He probably mistaked her with Heidi Laine.
Personally, I love their plastic. I've been out of the sport the last few years, and it was quite a shock getting back into it seeing how far DDs reputation has fallen. My bag is still 75% DD, just because I genuinely do love those discs.
As somebody who is fairly new to DG, this summer was spent purchasing a lot of disc… The ole just buy it to try it… because otherwise I just won’t know if I like it or not. I’ve acquired something like 60 new disc in the last 2 months alone.
A large part of that purchasing is online based and impulse in nature because I just don’t want to miss a good deal when I see one…
That being said, how I go about deciding on disc in person has a lot to do with how the mold feels in my hand, and the feel (grip, soft or firmness, slick or tackiness) is in hand.
Dynamic was a company I wanted to like, but after trying a handful, I just don’t like them. I have an eMac truth in Lucid that I like, and a deputy in prime that’s okay, but other than that I’m just not all that keen on the brand.
DD plastic feels like junk toy plastic
DD has some amazing discs.
I don’t even look at DD discs
Me either. I do not own any DD discs anymore.
I don't get the DD hate. The plastics are really good and the molds are solid. Probably the best putter plastics in the game AND the most options for a putter plastic. Been loving my Fuzion Burst Trespasses for a while now, haven't been really disappointed with any of their molds that I've tried.
I love all my dynamic discs
Supreme Trespass is $$
I think a lot of the hate comes from the clipart logo and their cringy law enforcement based naming system
@chiebert290 but being cringy can be said about any company's art and naming scheme
I started with DD and I am still throwing them today. I also throw MVP (BS - Before Simon), Discraft or whatever the hell flies great for me. I love the Supreme and Fuzion plastic. Feels great, super tough and flies beautiful. I put with Wardens (did not like Judges) and they are great for upshots as well. My only ace came from a Warden. I do not see me giving up on throwing them. Have fun people. Who gives a crap what you throw.
You're insane. They will be fine. They are part of. theHouse of Disc group, and the will be signingn new and upcoming talent.
There's also a culture aspect to DD that wasn't mentioned. The management like to drink and they frown on anyone who likes to smoke weed. I don't partake in either, but it's 2024, weed isn't a big deal anymore...
DD likes to drink? I'm totally getting an Uber
When we were at Emporia for Worlds a couple of years ago, my wife and I did a tour of their facilities. Everyone there was super nice and friendly. I walked away with a very positive view of DD from that experience.
I just bought 2 DD. Mostly because they were buy one get one free. I generally don't even look at them. I look at innova mvp and discraft. Their marketing isn't really great.
Long gone are the grass roots of DD and their family vib of 2016-2017ish Era.
RIP
Didn't Silva Saarinen play for Exel?
MVP now
Was Saarinen sponsored by DD? Thought she was open bag/ a local sponsor from Finland...
DD went downhill in disc sales and overall vibe once Eric Oakley left
Yall are crazy dd is so consistent, plastic are amazing, Tons of options
Top 3 disc golf brands that need to go extinct;
1. Prodigy
2. Lone Star
3. Dynamic Discs
Horrible image for the sport from this trio.
Yeah I can't say that DD or Lone Star will make a comeback but I think Prodigy still has potential especially with them still retaining KJ and Isaac/Ezra
@@wildrunsdiscgolfI love the pa3 lol
I think the downfall actually started when Bobby "Cool Daddy" Slick Breeze left DD. He was great for their social media and marketing. Bobby hosted the "Disc Golf Answer Man Podcast," which I loved. DD also used to put out a ton of content, like instructional videos and practice rounds with guys like A.J. Risley. After Bobby left, the TH-cam content took a big hit. DD started up their own podcast after Bobby left, but eventually stopped making it. I still like their plastic, but I miss the great content they used to produce.
Agreed
I'd say it was when Paige Pierce left and the reasons why she left.
i like how the quotation marks imply that "Cool Daddy" is his nickname but "Slick Breeze" is not
If you believe Reddit...a lot of people don't like DD just because the names of their discs have to do with police, law, and order. I'd say that's crazy but it's something.
If so, that just goes to show the decline of American civilization.
Aren't the faster discs in that lineup the outlaws though? Seems like a compliment. The Judge is slow and fat and the Felon sleek and nimble. Or something.
So should I stock up on emac truths and slammers..?
With the growth of MVP and addition of Clash, Thought Space + more it should be expected less market for others, unless the overall sales was still growing. This is a bad time to get stale.
I love DD (well, trilogy as a whole) and have hosted 3 trilogy challenges in the last few years. They have always seemed to be a really great company who hires great people. Their plastic is also some of the best quality I've thrown. Lucid Orbit was also a game changer (I don't think there is another company who has been able to expand the rise of orbit to clear discs). Therefore, the loss of almost all their pros is a hard blow. I think signing Kona and then being bought out and their president leaving all point to a decline of the company. It really saddens me. I think all the hate that DD gets is totally unwarranted.
Yes, I agree with you that most of the hate is unfounded/unwarranted.
Only big thing I see from the modern Dynamic Disc company (not old Destiny Discs later Dynamic Disc) is fully screwing over a player for having a kid and dropping them entirely is just wrong even for a USA company in 2020's. Sure, I say drop all pay for a year and possibly more if they are not touring in this period possibly retired but tell said player there is a slot should you want to come back to team, not just drop player entirely during players negotiations is a bad move even companies are not allowed to do a full drop of a person for having a kid.
I do not think people hate DD. Discgolf is showing up alot in my youtube, but I do not see much from DD. I do not even se much from Discraft. The last video from Paul was like 6 months ago. Simon posts a few videos per month, Casey from Discmania posts video almost every week, Latitude 64 has Johnatan,... Then there are creaters that are not tight with any company so they do not count much. But if some company have a entertainer like Simon or Casey or Johnatan who is showing love for what they are throwing with... They are gonna sell much better then DD. We know Ricky throws DD, but I do not even know if he likes it, or if he does not care. He might be great player, but he never entertain people...
They certainly got quite unlucky with both Ricky and Kona's illnesses right after signing, but yeah that's not the whole problem. Ricky is definitely fun to watch on the course, but neither one of them are fun to watch in a non-tournament setting and I think that's because neither of them seem very relatable or humble, to me at least. Maybe it's just a lack of skill in front of the camera in a casual setting where they can't relax, idk. And DD as a company doesn't seem to do well with hype around their discs outside of putting Ricky's name on them. It's just boring all around. And it's all L64 plastic anyway and Latitude has both a better image and outside the Evader (maybe) better molds, and that doesn't even mention development of new molds. My guess is they'll go the way of Gateway and Legacy soon where HoD will just dissolve them down to a handful of molds with little to no pro sponsorships.
Ricky actually seems pretty cool, I’d watch his videos if he made them. But I don’t think he has much interest in being a content creator
Trilogy was my favorite feeling plastic when I got into disc golf and started trying stuff out. The Pre-Mac Truth was my go to disc for a long time. My other mids were a Warrant and a Verdict. I had Wardens for putting and throwing. I still put with DD putters. I've switched to the EMAC Judge. I still bag the Warrant. The Kona Escape found its way into my way about a year ago. It's my favorite disc. I also bag a Supreme Escape, and a Getaway. That said, it's been sad to see their media team leave. They used to a big team of fun players and great media.
How they treated the lady having the baby is bad news bears… I do bag a felon and several trespasses but I’m certainly not married to them. There are so many good discs out there if I wanted to switch I could find replacements.
Being pregnant had nothing to do with their decision. She said she will play only 10 tournaments so she was going to get paid for playing 10 tournaments.
If DD sponsored MPO player wants to sign a new contract and says that he will play next year only 10 tournaments, he would not get paid for full tour either.
So why should FPO player get paid for full tour if MPO would not get paid for full tour? That is equality.
it would have been easy to make a deal that she gets paid less this season and more next season if she plays more tournaments.
If you make a contract at work that you work 4 days a week and not 5, you will get paid less also.
Agreed… But, if she is telling the truth, you would think they would at least make the 10 tournaments worth actually competing. Make the juice worth the squeeze. Optics wise other potential dd fpo players will see this and I would think it would leave a bad taste in their mouth. Not a good look for dd for future deals… possibly. But as a company they have every right to do what they did. Business is business. Your only worth what someone is willing to pay. But with her wanting to be loyal and remain with dd, and dd’s, if you believe her, lack of sympathy, it’s bad optics. I would suppose that if they would have given her more support, they would have done better as a company, attracted more players, sold more discs, and POSSIBLY…. Would have had a better year this year imo.
@@kimmomatikainen1843I’m pretty sure they tried to screw her AFTER they found out she was pregnant
Losing Danny and how hey treated Macie leaves a sour taste for sure ….
Everyone I actually cares about is gone including Danny. I wasn't an all-in Trilogy guy, but at this point there are 0 trilogy molds in the bag and maybe 3-5 HoD in there at any time. They messed up somewhere along the way, and in the end I think it was HoD that started all this misery for them. Investment companies will "save" themselves on expenses into the "poor house" before selling the shell company away later to someone else, yet somehow still at a profit. Here's hoping they wake up and not ruin the recent acquisitions (Kasta and Discmania) ... but I don't have much hope for that occurring.
Dd has a great linup of discs.
I could care less who the sponsored players are...at least in as much as it affects whether or not I buy or throw a company's discs. Honestly, I pay so little attention that I don't really even know who's sponsored by who for the most part. Even big names like Ricky...when you talked about him, quite frankly my reaction was "huh, yeah I guess I knew he was a DD player", but I rarely even think about it.
I do care about how players are treated by their sponsor, and when I do find out anything negative (such as Macie's situation) that does come into play if/when I buy discs from a company.
Danny is great, and a real asset to the sport. If his leaving is due to "bad stuff" coming from the company, that would definitely affect my purchasing decisions.
The discs/plastics themselves? Well that is by far the biggest factor though. And I gotta admit...........
--- My favourite putter is the Emac Judge in Classic Blend. I'd hate to not have it in my bag.
--- I also bag, and really like, the Escape....both in Supreme plastic, and Lucid Air if I want something lightweight.
I'm someone who pretty much bags/throws only 4 or 5 molds 90% of the time, sometimes less. At most, I'll have 7 or 8. So, if at least 1 or 2 of those are DD's, that's a significant percentage of my main discs (as much as 50%)
But it really has nothing to do with them being "from Dynamic Discs". I bag/throw them because they work for me, they reliably fly like I expect them to, and I like the plastic. They just happen to be made by that particular company.
For the record, the other companies that make my main discs are Trash Panda, Discraft, Kastaplast, and Innova. Of them, Trash Panda is the only one I specifically like to support for who they are and what they do....the others are just companies that happen to make discs I like.
People follow the trends. And most everything that is trendy is new, change, and drama. With Simon leaving for MVP last year, and Discraft signing AB and others, people are going to buy those discs. There is nothing wrong with their discs. People care way too much about what they bag to impress other people.
This. I'm pushing 40 and mostly throw Innova because I like their discs the most. It's certainly not cool or trendy these days but I honestly couldn't care less
I putt with Classic Blend Judges. Love them.
I need my judges and I do like a sheriff or two. Deputy also an underated disc for the scramblers out there.
Ricky is not marketable. What has he done with his foundation? The only clinic he has done is the one in Vegas last year.
Macie got screwed. that in and of itself shows how they value people. They offered their top player less money and then said screw you when she told them she was pregnant. They gave Kona the same amount as Kristen for what? because she is friends with EMac? the company is a joke.
They don't do any marketing and the tiny little bit they do is abysmal.
It is really sad.
I am a trilogy player and for me, it just feels like there is other options for every slot that DD has. Atleast for my level of play, where Glide helps me.
I bag 80% DD and I just hitting my two year anniversary of playing
DD are great discs. This video is just click-bait. Danny got a new job. He didn't say he left because anything is wrong with the company. MVP is the new popular thing but I think DD will be just fine
I’m someone who was a huge DD fan, I just liked how the team didn’t have the highest rated players on it but they seemed to be close and almost like a family. But I have really soured on them these past couple years. Pretty much starting with the Ricky and Kona signing. I thought the Val and Mason Ford were actually going to be the better signings for them that season, but then when they left after a single season it started raising red flags to me. I have found replacements for almost all of the DD in my bag. I just have my two favorites left, but after the drama with Macie, I am looking for replacements for them as well.
I remember when DD was just Rusco's eBay name. DD became the largest retailer of discs in the early 2010s. Back then it seemed like every pro was wearing their logo. Soon, they partnered with Latitude and began "manufacturing" their own discs. Being somewhat local to them, I was always a bit disappointed that DD didn't set up their own manufacturing facility and make discs in the USA. I also thought the names of the discs were dumb, lol. Just never got into them because I already preferred Innova and Discraft over L64 and DD's discs were just L64 discs as far as I was concerned. That said, I will always root for DD to do well. The folks who run and work at the DD stores here in KC are simply top notch, and deserve nothing but the best.
Nice job on this video!
I worked a bunch of tournaments for DD for several years and got to know Jeremy, Bobby, Robby, Eric and others while watching them help grow the sport alot. Almost everyone that I met in the Emporia disc golf scene with and around DD were and are great people. I know they miss alot of the folks that have left. I miss seeing alot of them too. I still throw only trilogy plastic because I like, and Dynamic Discs people and Company have been great to me and our community here. I know not everyone likes seeing our courses on the pro tour, but The staff, community, and the local disc golfers here all worked very hard to grow the DD brand and put a small KS town on the map for the world to see and enjoy. I hope House of Discs continues to support alot of the original visions and style that Dynamic has had over my years around them. Time will tell. But they have earned my respect and hopefully they can find some more talented people to help carry the load that alot of the OGs that have moved on once did. Companies change and people leave for new opportunities or many other reasons. Not always negative ones.
This seems to be 90 speculation with no data to back up your position
I like DD, they have some of my first 'favorite' discs & will always be a bit nostalgic for that. I think they have some very quality molds & are just in a bit of a slump right now in the public eye. I think they need to revisit the slammer & make it more like the original slammer, or more like a pig. I can't help but feel the way they designed the slammer is very polarizing & you definitely don't see ricky throwing it like he did with his pigs. Even if they don't release anything new, there will always be some tried and true Dynamic molds that will keep people coming back, but I feel like something new may help to inject some cash into the company. If it's a re-release of a disc like the slammer that they already have the molds for, the upfront cost would be low and may help to generate hype from people that have been missing it.
I think you touched on every point well. When I started playing in 2018 I was 100% trilogy with most being DD. but once Covid hit and production of certain things became nonexistent I slowly replaced every trilogy mold in my bag with something else. I still love my lucid slammer but there are a few discs that do the same thing for 1/3 the price. Now they’re doing all these plastic combos and it’s so hard to keep up with.
The saving grace with Wysoki's deal is that they only signed him for 4 years, rather than McBeth's 10-year, 10 million dollar deal.
I love Ricky, but I’m just not good enough to throw any of his discs lol
The slammer will get you out of trouble and make you better. I love my Slammers. Evaders are good too. Other than that, you're right. Lol Raiders and Felons are too overstable for me but Ricky makes the damn things flip over somehow😂
5+ years I have thrown trilogy, primarily DD. Prices go up, shipping times slow all the while promoting an overbuilt and over advertised new warehouse. Clash discs have some amazing plastic, time for me to move along.
I’ve thrown trilogy my whole disc golf “career” and I’ve found that they’re distance drivers are just not good I’ve also found my bag is more west side and latitude.
Nobody gives a shit about Macie Veladiez and all that, disc golf companies can’t pay people who aren’t playing. On top of that, if you’re not a top 3 female player then you aren’t making your company any money. Giving Kona that big deal probably hurt them pretty bad!
I got 2 discs from DD signed by Ricky and Kona with the helicopter stamp when they arrived at DD. Thanks Doug.
Judge, felon, raider. All in the bag
I use Judge putters and have bought a ton of them, but don’t use anything else they put out. I’m also not the biggest fan of Ricky Wysocki… so I don’t think I would by anything but the Judge. I love discraft because of their team and it seems they do a lot for the the sport. With that being said, I mostly there’re latitude discs.
Owning a busy wholesale business and retail store, I can tell you that a player's name on a disc does not sell it.
Awesome effects, superb quality, wicked stamps, wild colours, and Halo/Orbit features are what people are looking for.
You know what else sells discs? Me.
Roughly 75% of purchases made in my store are made on my recommendation. And I guarantee the discs I recommend will do what I say they will, or I will exchange it for free.
So... I wouldn't be too concerned about DD: they will continue to make and sell plenty of discs - mostly because they have some really good moulds, and the discs are all made by Lat64 - the second best moulder in the industry, after MVP.
Silva was never a DD player.
I bag only trilogy. That's because when I started playing, they had the best online presence between Danny's instructional vids, and the "will this disc work for you" series. They had the squad program which was pretty awesome too. Then their online presence kind of just disappeared. I haven't bought any new plastic recently, but if I were shopping I'd probably look elsewhere.
Not keeping Danny around is NUTS.
I think it was more he wanted to leave
When I graduated from my Innova starter pack, I used a Maverick, Truth, Escape and Trespass along with Judge putters. Probably due to influence from watching Danny's training videos and they were inexpensive. I'm still using a Lucid Escape and the Judge putters but lately substituting a C-line CD1 and Link putters. Every now and then the Trespass sneaks back into the bag. My bag in now is mostly Discraft (Zone,Buzzz,Stalker), Innova (TL3,Beast,Wraith,Destroyer), Discmania (Link, Tactic, FD, Essence, CD1,DD1)and MVP (Envy,Hex,Crave,Wave).
DD putters are OP but the rest of the lineup is generally underwhelming
Your content is awesome, but the thumbnail photo approach is desperate for attention and tacky.
The only DD I regular use are my supreme judges. Supreme is the only decent plastic they make and only is available in a few molds. So other companies with similar plastic to supreme i.e. kastaplast k1, discmania s line, clash double steady, and latitude grand royal are my go to for great molds. Also could care less who is sponsored with the exception that sometimes signature series discs have good stamps
What it comes down to is to beat Innova, L64, or MVP you have to do something better than them. DD doesn’t offer anything unique and their brand strategy seems pretty lazy to me. The logos are awful and the law&order theme doesn’t work for me. Maybe their fans enjoy it? Supreme plastic is just rebranded Royal Grand plastic and they thought they could just sign Ricky and let him carry the brand. Having great players is to augment the brand not to carry it.
No one was buying Kona’s discs because they connected with her. It was simply because half the men that watch disc golf have never had a girlfriend and thought she was hot. Kristen is the same way. Don’t get it twisted, she is the goat of woman’s disc golf and her discs are far better for am players than most men’s pro players are, but her attractiveness to the disc golf market is quite literally her attractiveness.
I've been throwing only Trilogy for a few years now. To say they haven't innovated at all I think is a bit of a stretch. Along with Discraft, when it comes to plastic, they might be the most innovative on the market. In the last few years, the Supreme/Royal line has come out along with BioGold, Gold Ice, Orbit Ice, etc. and other plastics. MVP on the other hand, who seems to have taken a lot of the market, has not innovated much on the plastic side outside of their R2 or Fission Plastic.
As for players, it seems like all the House of Discs brands are cutting players in favor of having one top player. Discmania might be the exception, but we also don't know what Kyle's contract is like. For DD, you also have to realize that they own part of Westside so in some sense that is an extension of their brand. It would be interesting to see how people perceive Westside alongside DD. It sucks to lose Clemons because he was a good ambassador for the brand.
Where I will agree is that DD's player marketing has not kept up with the Discraft's and MVP's of the world, though both Discraft and MVP's player marketing has been driven in large part by the players themselves, not so much by the company. In the case of Discraft, the company does help by setting up personal websites for the players to help them sell product. DD has a dedicated Ricky page to buy all his stuff. Latitude has a Kristin page.
I think what ultimately has happened to DD is that the player marketing has suffered, making it less desirable as a player to want to represent them. For Discraft and MVP, it seems like the companies are doing a good job of supporting the players' needs while allowing them to focus on playing and building their own brands. I think for DD a lot of that has been placed on the players.
I also have heard a rumor that House of Discs kind of came in and players were told to put up and sell plastic or you weren't going to be back. That could be a factor, and it could make sense given that Gannon and Alden have strong presences on social media and seem to move plastic pretty well. It also seems that Latitude has become the European arm of Trilogy and with Niklas Antilla leaving DiscMania, maybe they don't want competition in that market from in house. That is just speculation on my part.
When you look at the other top companies, they all have top players who have thriving TH-cam channels/Social Media. Now that Danny is gone (I think he truly wanted a different opportunity closer to family, I don't think he was forced out or anything like that and will probably be making more money) it will be interesting to see if DD places a higher value on players who can push their brand on social media and TH-cam because they haven't really ever had that. It has always been through the DD page, not the individual players' channels.
It will be interesting to see. I don't think they will be bought out since they basically have in a way with House of Discs. It would be way harder too anyway since they have such strong ties to Latitude and Westside. What would need to happen is they would have to probably sell their share of Westside and then cut ties with House of Discs before that happened. That's the way I see it.
I will probably keep throwing them, but things change so who knows, maybe I'll change my mind in the future. But that Royal/Supreme Plastic is just so good.
Response based on DD discs that I own and mostly bag through not all at the same time.
I find this video to be very "suspect." I am responding because in my supreme "judge" ment, there is a lack of the real "proof" that DD is one the verge of collapse. How can DD get any "justice" in this forum. Pretty sure the "deputy" would arrest me for the "vandal"ism that may result from such an extreme "verdict."
For whatever reason I mostly bag DD and Innova with a little bit of Latitude 64 thrown in support on Mr. Happy faced Fuse fame, Johnathan.
Some of the discs I bought because I thought the name was cool or funny. Bought my friend a truth just so I could say you can't handle the truth when he shanks it. For similar reasons I bought him a Genius from Discmania so I can say nice shot genius when throws a particularly good or bad shot. Here's hoping DD can turn things around soon. I'd hate to see them go out with their final legally themed disc being named the Bankruptcy. That would be criminal and Emporia deserves better than that.
P.S. all the best to Ricky and Kona and please do something nice for Macy. A shame they lost so many good FPO players including Holynn Hanley, Valerie Mandujano. and Page Shue, I think all to Discraft in recent years.
Lot of fake news here....
This channel is going downhill QUICKLY
I'm the same way, I haven't bought many DD discs other than some Ricky ones. Speaking of innovative, shoutout to "ProtoFlyte Discs" in OKC, who is going to be releasing a prototype, CNC cut disc instead of injected. Their idea is it will be more consistent flights from disc to disc. Who knows if it will be good or not, but I preordered one in support for their innovative thinking.
Just a rough patch, they'll recover, but I'll be honest, I've been removing more of my DD discs, and adding in more of the Westside and Latitude Molds. I do love my Wardens. DD just feels like a different company now, without the Bjerkas family, Rusco, Bobby, Robert, and now Danny all the players that have left, it's just weird. My entire bag is still Trilogy and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but it still feels weird what's going on over there now.
I’ve enjoyed Trilogy discs but I avoid DD. I’m not a fan of the whole cops and robbers naming scheme. Though I do love the Sockibomb Slammer. That being said it’s sad to see what looks like the slow death of a once respected disc golf company
This video made me feel really nostagic. In 2018, we went down for GBO, it was a trip I'll never forget. Might have been peak DD and Emporia. It's hard not to blame House of Discs and Rusco for the direction the company seems to be going. I'll still throw DD and cheer for Ricky, but slowly my bag is heading toward Lat and Kasta...I know they're also HoD. Royal and K1 are fantastic and hopefully they don't change the blends.
Those market share numbers could be misleading...what's more valuable: 8.9% slice of a 10 million dollar pie...or 3.19% slice of 100 million pie?
True. Especially with many more places entering the pie. I'm guessing all the brands that were there for a while have shown a decline...yet doesn't mean they're still not profitable.
That’s true, but it’s also not true that the disc market multiplied by 10 over the relevant years
House Of Disc bought DD, i saw Discmania Offered For Payout at DD Straddle. I have a feeling they are going to focus on the Euro market which is growing big time and with more tour dates it cant be long before the Euro Tour will outgrow the US. Talent is growing fast overseas along with the Euro courses being top notch, spectator friendly and beautiful.
I remember when everybody was writing Discraft's obituary, then boom, they were back on the radar screen in a big way. Every company has it's ups and downs. Bad luck about Kona, good choice with Ricky. They'll survive.
Had the pleasure of playing a casual round wigh Jaden Rye and his dad. Both great guys. Hope DD treats him well.
I like the Deputy putter for putting and approaches. There's only one other putter that feels exactly like the Deputy in my hand, and that is the ______________. Tell me which disc you think I'm talking about.
Fierce. I prefer the Fierce for throwing but still putt with a Deputy.
Thanks Aardvark, yes the Fierce is one of two answers I will accept. I have just one, but it's an original prototype with burst colors exactly like one of Paige's favorite putters. I think the Fierce is a great throwing putter at 250-feet and in. I can't throw it farther than that anyway.
No idea. I do like Deputy though. Underrated
as a Ricky fan, I wish they would fold them into Latitude or other house of discs brand. Take the top molds and plastic and call it.
The only DD disc I've ever bagged is a Justice. I haven't tried many of their discs because I've had success with many discs from Innova, Discraft, MVP, Latitude, Discmania, etc. and they've become staples in my bag. I absolutely LOVE the Justice though. Unfortunately, imo, the best run of Justices had Macie's name on them (Soft Justice, Fluid Lucid Justice) :/
Alright, I’ll l say it- people want quality plastic…that also looks good. Look at the effort that mvp puts into design/stamps and how that’s paid off. I don’t like the logo. My opinion, but marketing is real
I will never support a company that glorifies criminality and vigilante justice as their branding theme.
I guess I just don't just get DD discs, somehow. Tried some, and they've always been a bit weird to me. Yeah I have some Ricky Slammers and fairway drivers, but they're relegated to the pile of "maybe my kids think that this is a cool colour". No hard dislike or anything, I just feel that some of the bucket lids from other manufacturers fit me better. Edit: many of which are Latitude so Trilogy as well.
It’s just the sport itself is growing. There is just more options. Consider how difficult it must be to stay relevant in a second hand sport. Innova stated relevant without promoting or doing any insane publicity stunt. And I’m not an innova fan. Just don’t be quick to assume there is an issue. I think dd is right where they want to be. Ricky is the man. Puts in the work. His disc sales are fine. Dd just made that deal. It’s going to be a different year in disc golf all together. Mark my words
Everything out of the trilogy factory is great. Consistent discs that are super durable. I have no reason to get caught up in pro drama as a casual player, I just like good discs so I will keep throwing DD
As a person who puts wardens, I have been a big fan of DD. I love their fuzion plastic.I think the house of disc is going to roll DD and Disc Mania together. They are both American brands with swedish plastic .
For me I don't buy any tour series discs because of the turnover on the teams. Do I have some favorite players, sure. I was a Ricky fan when he was on Latitude 64, Innova, and now Dynamic Discs. I also like Paul as well. I don't tend to buy discs because of who throws what honestly. I'm a Trilogy fan and have been for a long time now. Being that I live in KS and play many events, the players packs when I first started playing events in 2015/16 were heavily Trilogy. Now there is more variety. Before Paul signed on with Discraft you couldn't give those discs away here. After he signed all people wanted was Discraft. Innova got a big spike when Ricky was on the team but has tapered a bit as of late. Discraft and Innova are the Ford and GM of disc golf and will always be back and forth depending on the territory. DD is the Dodge in our state.
Lonestar was hot for a minute here in KS, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon, and now you can't give it away. Prodigy comes and goes too. It just depends on the event honestly.
I do agree that DD is getting stale and they've let some good players go in the last couple of years. Sometimes business make bad decisions and it takes time to recover from those decisions. Some never do. Hopefully with the new leadership at DD they can make a solid push back into the spotlight again. They really need to get a solid FPO player to try to bring attention to the ladies' side of disc golf. Remember how good the GBO once was? It was the biggest am event in the world at one point.
The decision to separate the ams and the pros to 2 different events hurt the GBO. Will it recover? Who knows.
Disc golf seems to be just like anything else, trends come and go.
DD still makes good plastic but as the video says they really haven't came up with much new besides the Supreme and Royal plastic lines. Maybe they will invent the next swirl/halo/burst/shimmer disc in 2024 and sales will take off. One can only speculate.
A sore spot for me! I hate their customer service, and management. I bought a blue veteran, and they sent me a white base, with no wheel. When I called to get the right one, they offered me nothing for messing up my 400 plus dollar purchase. It sucks because I absolutely love the Supreme escape, to me it is irreplaceable.
I think you got something wrong. Silva Saarinen was not sponsored by Dynamic.
DD molds are mostly great. So sorry to hear they are not supporting their players. I'm a latitude 64 guy but I throw an evader. I putt with wardens. Bummer about Clemons and Kona.
The Lucid Ice Wardens I just got (2 for 1) are stunning. Emac Truth is dependable. Putt with Deputies. HOD plastic and finish is top notch.
My only DD / Trilogy discs are the deputy and underworld. I do throw some kastaplast which is now under the same parent company
the only DD disc i throw is a judge, i dont even bother with anything else because i like all the other brands so much more.
I took a moment to look at the lineup if Dynamic and outside the Deputy and Judge, I do not use any of their discs. I bought a few starter packs for people - thats about it, so I can't comment on their plastic. However, I do think their Disc Golf Bags are great and have the Trooper and Commander. To be fair, I do not find Ricky very appealing, but loved Kona (hope she's doing well), and feel that DD does not market itself well, is lacking innovation, and without Danny - will be lacking a social presence. In today's world, it seems that content creation drives disc golf sales and DD seems behind the game of Simon, Gannon & Co., Latitude (Jonathan), even Casey White at Discmania. Losing Val, Mason, Macie and Danny are huge hits... wish them luck but do not disagree with the video that trouble could be ahead.
I’ve had a truth and a judge I bag some discmania which is hod plastic and I like it but just never been a fan of dx. Not sure if that made sense
I've thrown Trilogy plastic since 2019. I remember when they retired a dozen or so molds and there was mostly negative feedback from that. They made the Agent, and the slammer, and the Emac Judge and other discs that were just not needed. They lost Valarie who was so fun to watch and had a good personality. I just think they do whatever they want, and dont care what their fans think. They arent talking to us as players and making things better for us, they just do what they want and expect we will be okay with it. I still like their plastic, I will still throw Harps, and Escapes, and Truths, but if they keep this up, they wont have any fans cheering them on.
Infinite DOES NOT reflect total disc sales. Why sell on Infinite when you have your own vertically integrated website?
I buy from otb and local stores only. You're right, infinite doesn't reflect total disc sales...not by a long shot
I appreciate how you act as if Disc Golf started in 2020
DD has my favorite disc of all time the Felon in Lucid plastic. Also the Judge Prime burst along with the most reliable mid for me the emac truth these 3 alone have improved my game so much
I have 2 Deputies, Judge, Truth, Escape. My nephew has Emac Discs
I’ve been playing since 96 I throw a few DDs. I think you used all your time to make DD look like s**t. IMO
I imagine 2024 will be their strongest year yet. Ricky out there killing it, Latitude cranking out beautiful plastics like crazy. I would lever throw dynamic, but It’s obvious they are on top of their game currently.
I started on DD discs and most of my bag was DD for the first few months (I'm 1.5 years in at this point) and I'm just realizing now that they all got pushed out by other manufacturers.